The now week-long strike in Los Angeles Unified has raised many issues of statewide, even nationwide, relevance. In addition to the litany of issues it raises about school choice, teacher pay and the influence of teachers unions, it must also draw attention to a problem politicians are all too keen on kicking down the road: rising pension and retiree health benefit costs.

LAUSD, like most other school districts in the state, offers defined benefit pensions to teachers. For decades, the district has not only paid the full health care premium for active teachers, but it also pays the full premium for eligible retirees as well as their dependents. In a district where the median pay for teachers is $80,000, these are very generous perks indeed.

Naturally, these benefits come at a real cost.

In August 2017, it was noted that whereas the district spent 23.8 percent of its budget on pension and health and welfare, that figure is set to hit 37.5 percent by 2021-22 and surpass 50 percent by 2031-32.

With greater and greater proportions being spent on benefits, there are therefore fewer resources available to invest in more tangible services to students.

From a baseline fiscally responsible perspective, it also limits what the district can offer in new contract negotiations.

This is not a problem that is unique to the LAUSD.

Pension costs have been rising across the state, with cities, counties, school districts and the state itself feeling more and more of the impact.

School districts have especially felt the impact. According to a January 2018 report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, in 2013-14, school districts statewide were responsible for $2.1 billion in contributions to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. By 2020-21, those figures balloon to over $6.8 billion.

Similarly, obligations to the California Public Employees Retirement System over the same time period are expected to rise from $1.1 billion to over $2.7 billion.

Taken together, from 2013-14 to 2020-21, school districts will have seen their pension costs rise from $3.2 billion to $9.6 billion.

A Sept. 2017 LAO report noted that the unfunded liability for retiree health benefits were over $24 billion at the time, with LAUSD responsible for over half of the statewide unfunded liability at the time.

This is obviously an unsustainable path under current conditions.

It’s no wonder the union representing Los Angeles teachers, as with other public sector unions, has consistently pushed for higher taxes as a means of papering over these problems and prolonging taxpayer-funded benefits of ambiguous benefit to educational outcomes.

But before turning to taxpayers for more money, it’s time for a real discussion about pensions moving forward for new hires and reform to retiree health benefits of the sort doled out by LAUSD.

Until those sorts of costs are brought to a more reasonable and sustainable level, politicians and unions alike shouldn’t be coming to the taxpayers for more money.

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